.308 ... 168gr Sierra HPBT ... and Varget

[bigjeepman]

I am interested in knowing of any successes/failures from handloaders who have used Varget in their .308 rifles shooting the Sierra 168gr HPBT. I am trying to tune in my brothers Savage 10FPLE2A with a 26" barrel. I am also using CCI BR2 primers. We have a load of 44.0gr grouping consistently around the .500" area. I know it will do better and I am thinking less (powder) might be better. I am not trying to find any shortcuts to my normal load development process but would like to hear about your experiences.

Any comments/advice will be appreciated. Oh .... Happy New Year!

[Larry Gibson]

The 168 MK is nice but I prefer the 175 MK in my M70 target rifle for serious long range shooting. I load it over 44.5 gr Varget in LC match cases and 45 gr Varget in W-W Palma cases. I use WLR primers. Velocity with either runs 2680 fps +/- depending on temp and lot of powder.

Larry Gibson

[jd45]

I have a Rem. Varmint Synthetic in .308, w/ 26" barrel as well. I've gotten 1" @ 200yds with Norma cases; Fed 210m primers;  44grs of Varget, & a Hornady 165gr Spirepoint, so I'd say .500" @ 100yds is right there. Course, I guess there's always room for improvement. Good luck, JD45

[bigjeepman]

We went to the range again yesterday with the 44gr of Varget shooting the best groupings. Because we never shoot beyond 300 yards, we decided to stay with the 168 gr Sierra's HPBT. We were happy with the consistency of this load. I have always liked Varget as I have used it in 3 different calibers now.

Thank all of you for your help.

[determined451]

varget is o.k...but to really see what you can do try RL-15.....seems todo the best...D-451

[hunt127588]

RL-15 didn't work best for me....Varget did. Here are targets to prove it:

Best load was the following for my Rem LTR:
168 SMK (.308 Win)
44.5 gr Varget
WW Case
CCI BR2
2.800 OAL

Varget:


RL-15:

[bigjeepman]

Nice groups hunt127588 ... we use 2.805" OAL and a little less Varget ... everything else is the same. Both powders seem to perform very well. I use Varget in .223, .243, and .308 ... not in all my best loads but quite a few of them.